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Myanmar Junta Still Blocking Much Cyclone Aid

A young boy sits by the wreckage of a home near Kyauktan in Myanmar.Credit
Reuters

This article is by a reporter for The New York Times in Myanmar and Seth Mydans in Bangkok.

YANGON, Myanmar — A trickle of aid shipments arrived in Myanmar on Sunday, more than a week after a powerful cyclone smashed the country, but the ruling military junta continued to bar major shipments to more than a million of the storm’s hard-hit survivors.

The junta is also continuing to deny entry to foreign aid workers, who relief officials say are needed to prevent more deaths.

Reuters reported that the state-run Myanmar television said the death toll from the May 3 cyclone had risen to 28,458, with 33,416 people still missing. But a number of relief officials say the death toll is most likely much higher.

The United Nations World Food Program said that only one visa had been approved out of 16 it had requested and the aid group World Vision said it had requested 20 visas but received two.

In the port at Yangon, shipments of rice were being loaded onto two freighters bound for Malaysia and Singapore, apparently as part of a pre-existing contract. Nearby, another ship was being loaded with rice bound for the Irrawaddy Delta, which bore the brunt of the storm.

Some water and electricity had been restored by Sunday in Yangon, the country’s capital, but prices for rice and fuel had increased sharply, along with prices for candles while the power was out.

In an illustration of the difficulties aid agencies face in distributing supplies, a boat carrying some of the first aid to survivors in the Irrawaddy Delta sank, apparently after hitting a submerged tree, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

Photo

A temple damaged by a cyclone in Pyapon, Myanmar.Credit
Associated Press

The boat was believed to have hit a submerged tree in the delta. The accident highlighted the enormous logistical difficulties of delivering aid, with roads washed away and much of the delta turned to swamp.

As aid shipments continued on Sunday, a spokesman for the World Food Program, Paul Risley, said it amounted to about one-tenth of what was needed, in addition to a major logistical operation.

The World Food Program said that the authorities had released 38 tons of high-energy biscuits it had confiscated on Friday and that 4.4 tons of biscuits had been delivered Sunday.

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The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said that three of its aircraft delivered 14 tons of shelter materials.

The United States was preparing to send in its first aircraft with relief supplies on Monday.

Authorities were also reported to be confiscating aid from local Burmese residents who try to donate supplies to victims, one resident said in an e-mail message.

In one case, a group of people on their way to distribute small personal donations on the outskirts of Yangon was stopped by district security forces, the resident said. They were told they could only distribute aid through the security forces. In another case, the resident said, security forces confiscated the car of a woman who was on her way to deliver sacks of rice to victims outside the city.

In the less-devastated areas, the military junta was focused on a constitutional referendum on Saturday intended to cement its power after a campaign of intimidation, even as it continued to restrict foreign aid shipments. No preliminary results had been announced by late Sunday morning, but the state-run media said the voting had proceeded without incident.

Relief experts say the aid being distributed is a fraction of what is needed to help as many as 1.5 million people facing starvation and disease. The military appeared to be diverting some resources from cyclone victims to the referendum. One resident of Yangon, speaking by phone, said refugees who had sought shelter in schoolhouses were forced out so the buildings could be used as polling places.